Opportunity Overview
Knox County Foundation 2026 Small Grant – October Cycle is the Foundation’s current quarterly small-grant opportunity for charitable projects and programs benefiting Knox County, Ohio. The Foundation supports community needs across education, youth services, recreation, health, arts and culture, social services, and civic/community development, with added preference for pilots, creative responses to unmet needs, collaborative projects, and initiatives likely to make a clear difference in local quality of life.
Funding and Deadline
Small Grant requests are limited to $10,000 or less. For the current October 2026 cycle, the required Expression of Intent is due September 15, 2026, and invited full applications are due October 15, 2026. The Foundation’s public materials do not state a deadline clock time or time zone for either date, so Atlas does not infer one. Decisions for this cycle are expected in November.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants include tax-exempt private agencies classified as 501(c)(3) organizations, public charities, public schools, governmental entities, and Knox County colleges and universities. Projects must operate in Knox County or benefit Knox County residents. Applicants that do not currently serve Knox County residents or have not previously received Foundation funding must demonstrate local connections, partnerships, or collaborations.
Match, Allowable Costs, and Restrictions
No mandatory match percentage is stated. The Foundation says it prefers to participate as a funding partner rather than the sole source and strongly urges applicants to include some degree of match funding. Generally ineligible costs and projects include grants to individuals; routine operating or payroll expenses except rare strategic-growth/service-expansion exceptions; religiously restricted or doctrinal projects; computer purchases unless used solely for the funded project; existing debts or liabilities; travel when it is the proposal’s primary focus; completed projects; political campaigns; capital improvements to privately held property; and community services taxpayers support or are expected to support.
Foundation materials contemplate equipment in qualifying projects and require acknowledgement on equipment and other capital items where appropriate, but applicants should not assume any specific technology purchase is allowable without Foundation review.
Submission Rules and Required Materials
The first step is the Foundation’s online Expression of Intent (EOI). The EOI requires a brief project/program description, goals and objectives, and a budget overview. Foundation staff review the EOI for eligibility and appropriateness of the requested amount; applicants meeting minimum benchmarks are then asked to submit the full application through the Foundation’s Online Grant Portal.
The public guidelines do not publish a complete current-cycle attachment checklist for the invited full application, so Atlas does not fabricate one. Incomplete proposals are ineligible. After award, grantees must complete the Grant Acceptance Statement within 30 days, request distribution within 180 days, track grant funds, use them only for budgeted purposes, and submit Grant Follow-Up Reports at six-month intervals or when funds are fully used, whichever comes first.
N9+ / Dr. Miltie Strategic Analysis
N9+ Fit Score: 52/100, conditional. The Foundation explicitly values pilot projects, creative responses to unmet needs, health initiatives, and qualifying project equipment, which can create a defensible pathway for a small applicant-led telehealth or connected-care pilot. However, the $10,000 ceiling is restrictive, technology is not a stated priority, and specific device allowability must be confirmed before inclusion.
Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare is not the natural direct applicant because eligibility is centered on charitable, educational, governmental, and local higher-education entities. A legitimate role would be as an applicant-selected vendor or partner inside an eligible organization’s independently defined project.
Realistic Applicant Profiles
Potentially relevant Knox County applicants include nonprofit healthcare organizations, public-health or governmental entities, public schools, and local colleges with applicant-owned health-access, student-health, screening, behavioral-health, or community-care pilots. Knox Community Hospital is a locally based nonprofit hospital that already offers telehealth, making it a plausible profile for a carefully scoped access-to-care pilot, subject to Foundation eligibility confirmation and the $10,000 project ceiling.
Contact and Controlling Source
Applications are submitted through the Knox County Foundation Online Grant Portal. The Foundation lists Senior Program Director Lisa Lloyd at lisa@knoxcf.org and 740-392-3270 for grant questions.
Controlling sources: Knox County Foundation 2026 Guidelines for Grantmaking; Apply for a Grant; and Grantmaking FAQs.